Late Night (Arc) Reactions
by The Grim Writer
Summary: (Set in movie-verse) Pepper realizes something's off with Tony when they brought him home from Afghanistan when working late at his mansion


Hi fanfic community, it's ya boy Grim Writer here with a short Iron Man story. I thought of it when I was watching the 2008 movie, and it is Pepperony with mentions of PTSD.

I do not own Iron Man. Or the suit. If I did, I'd probably accidentally fly it into a building or something.

* * *

"You spelled "immediately" wrong"

Pepper jumped at the comment made by the man brought back from the dead behind her. Turning to face him, she saw her employer, who was perched with his hands on the top of the couch she was currently sitting on, with a slight matter of fact look on his face.

"Have you just been sitting here watching me work for who knows how long?"

Tony pushed himself into a standing position and began walking over to the front of the elongated sofa.

"Well, technically I was leaning, not sitting. And I know how long, it's only been about four minutes"

Pepper gave an exasperated sigh. Ever since Tony swore off making weapons, work has been hell for her. Responding to dozens of their clients demanding answers and if their shipments will be delivered to them, laying low from the press, sorting through paperwork. While the red head generally did enjoy working here, even if she was sometimes overwhelmed by the craziness that is Tony Stark, she was starting to get down to her last straws of patience left, especially as it was already a quarter to nine at night, aka, nearly four hours since she normally went home.

"And why have you been watching me?"

Tony sat down next to her on the couch, and leaned in in an exaggerated fashion, almost like he was going to admit to a horrible secret.

"Do you want to know why?"

"Mr. Stark- "

"Do you REALLY want to know why?"

"YES, I would like to know why you were stalking me Mr. Stark"

Tony leaned back unto the couch facing her

"I'm bored"

Pepper blinked. Then she blinked again"

"You, Tony Stark, one of the richest men in the world, sitting inside your own Californian mansion with state of the art tech, as well as your own personal garage to tinker in, plus a bar stocked full of every alcoholic beverage ever concocted, are bored?"

Tony gave it a few seconds to process.

"Yep"

"And this is my problem… how?"

"Because, as my personal assistant, it is your sworn duty to assist me in everything that may affect me personally"

Pepper closed her laptop and leaned back on the sofa.

"Actually, I'm pretty sure that the duties of a personal assistant fall under the assistance of your WORK, not your personal life. Am I right Jarvis?"

"She has a point, sir", the robotic butler echoed from the hidden speakers in the ceiling.

Tony slumped into the sofa.

"Traitor…"

Pepper opened up her laptop and began to resume typing the email she had been in the middle of typing.

"Go downstairs and tinker on something for a while. Just try not to blow anything up and leave me to my work"

Tony gave a sigh, then pulled himself up from the sofa and lumbered towards the basement.

"Fine… try not to work too hard Pep"

The red head looked up from her laptop screen for a second as she watched her boss walk down the basement steps. She couldn't put her finger on it, but he seemed... off. With a sigh, she turned back to her work to keep her thoughts from wandering onto grim territory. But even as she typed, Pepper couldn't help but feel horrible for Tony. He had spent three months in a cave held captive by terrorists that wanted him dead. It didn't take a genius to figure out it was far from pleasant. He never brought it up around her, or anyone for that matter. Honestly, she wasn't even sure if Rhodey knew the whole story, and he was the one who rescued him. As indestructible as Tony Stark is, he was still human.

Shaking her head, the red head began to dive back into the comfort of her laptop, trying to stifle out the nagging feeling she was developing.

…

At exactly 2:13 am, Pepper Potts closed her laptop, the only light source in the now pitch-black living room, completely drained. While there were sure to be even more emails and paperwork to deal with later that morning, at least she could give herself at least a few hours of sleep before then.

Sliding her laptop into her bag, the red head started towards the front door. As she passed the wall next to the stairwell that led to the garage, a glare caught her eye. Turning her head, she caught sight of a circular, light blue light on the wall at about her height. Pepper frowned as she tried to recall if there was ever a button or monitor on that wall. Curiously, she walked over to it, trying to figure out when Tony had installed it. She made it until she was about three feet away from it when her heart nearly exploded in fear.

"Boo", said the light.

Looking back at it, she was lucky she landed on her expensive heals and hadn't tumbled and broke her ankle when she jumped back about a foot shrieking. When her throat had gotten a little hoarse from screaming, the red head could see that the light was bobbing up and down, as well as… wait, was that… laughing?

"Jarvis, lights NOW!", exclaimed the furious red head, now realizing what just happened.

When the lights flipped on, Pepper could see that she was three feet in front of non-other than Tony Stark, whose arc reactor was shining through one of his old MIT shirts, laughing his ass off.

"TONY! You nearly gave me a heart attack! As well as a busted heal and possibly ankle!"

Eventually the billionaire started to calm down, albeit still chuckling a bit.

"That... was genius. Which, you know, makes sense considering I came up with it"

Pepper glared at her boss as she picked up her laptop bag, resisting the urge to smack him over the head with it.

"How long were you even standing there? And… why are you even up? You can't STILL be bored after all this time!"

Tony stopped chuckling after that, and his smile even faltered a smidge.

"Well, you know. A while"

With that, he turned towards the garage stairwell, gave a quick, "Goodnight Pep", and began to descend the steps. But not before a hand on his shoulder stopped him.

"Wait a minute, now I'm actually curious. You had to have been there for a while because I would have seen you move in the dark when I was putting away my laptop. How long were you actually standing there?"

Tony turned towards the now intrigued red head.

"Ya know, just a couple of minutes ago"

Again, he started to head downstairs, but not before the woman at the top of them made him stop in his tracks.

"Tony, I've known you long enough to know when you're lying. How long were you standing there? If I have to, I'll ask Jarvis"

Facing the red head, Tony could see she was more concerned than angry, which is probably the reason he decided to come clean for once.

"About forty minutes, give or take"

"And why on earth were you waiting that long to scare me?"

"Because… I couldn't sleep"

"Tony…"

"It's true! I tinkered a bit in the garage like you said, then I came up here to stalk you. Again"

While it did warm her heart a bit that for once her boss actually took one of her suggestions seriously, it didn't ease her worrying.

"Why can't you sleep? You usually never stay up this late unless you got your head stuck in one of your projects downstairs"

Tony shrugged, seemingly uncaring about the situation.

"Dunno. Maybe I had too much coffee this morning"

Pepper furrowed her eyebrows.

"Tony…"

"Pepper…"

"Tony!"

"Pepper!"

Pepper sighed in defeat, Tony mimicking her with a huge smirk on his face.

"Fine, if you don't want to tell me, that's fine, just… I don't know. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to head home to get a few hours of sleep before coming back here to put up with you"

With that, the red head swiftly turned away from her employer and began to head towards the front door. But not before a hand on her shoulder stopped her.

"Pepper… I'm sorry"

Eyes wide, she turned to face Tony, who for once actually seemed genially sorry. In all the years she's worked for him, Pepper can't recall many times when the billionaire genius playboy was actually sorry for what he did. Usually he ran away laughing or at least gave Pepper some space while she slowly let her anger fizzle out. But it was like the man before her wasn't the same Tony Stark as he was back then. He seemed… more human, then before.

"I'm sorry, I should have been more open with you. I just… I'm not…"

"A hundred percent sure how to do it?"

Tony's chocolate brown eyes stared into her shining blue eyes in amazement.

"That, Ms. Potts, is the reason I hired you. That is exactly what I meant"

"Tony, if you want to talk to me, you can. About anything, not just business related"

"It's about the arc, Pepper. This thing in my chest- "

Chocolate brown eyes watched as the shining blue ones gazing into his suddenly widened in horror.

"Oh my God, are you feeling alright? Do I need to call an ambulance are you hurt oh please don't tell me you're-"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa, slow down Potts, I'm fine. I'm just, well, worried I might not be"

Shining blue eyes changed from shocked to confused.

"Wait, why might you think that?"

Tony hesitated for a minute before he continued.

"It's just… I built this thing in a cave. With a bunch of scraps. High tech scraps, but still scraps non-the less. My point is, it's not as good as it could be, and I'm just worried that, when I'm asleep… it might, short out or something. So for a while now I've been monitoring it instead of sleeping"

Pepper stood in silence for a minute, the blue glow from the arc imbedded in Tony's chest making her blue eyes appear bluer than usual.

"So, what do you think you're going to do?"

Tony shrugged.

"What I do best. Build a better one and swap it out with the old one. Just like changing a battery"

With a quick rap on the metal disk on his chest to prove his point, Tony began to head back downstairs. But not before a voice stopped him when he was on the third step down.

"Tony… are you sure you are going to be alright?"

Chocolate brown eyes turned around and faced the concerned blue eyes, shining from the light emitting from his chest.

"No, Ms. Potts, I'm not. It's just… I want to pretend I'm back home and everything's fine and… but, when I see the light from this thing shining through my sheets, it's like my room begins to change. It's like… I'm back in that cave again. And then I worry that I'm actually delusional and just dreaming that I'm back home"

Pepper stood in shock before coming to her senses. She walked a few steps forward until she was at the edge of the stairwell. Her being a few steps above her boss gave her a chance to look straight ahead in his chocolate brown eyes without them towering over her blue ones.

"Tony… it's ok. I know you aren't exactly one to want to appear… weak, but… you've been through a lot. And I mean a lot even for someone as crazy as you. And, if you need to just… talk, like this? Call me. Or Rhodey. Or, hell, even Jarvis could give you some company. Just, get it off your chest, alright?"

Tony took a few seconds to process what she said before giving a reply of his own.

"Well, if I did take it off, I would die tragically of shrapnel tearing apart my heart, so I don't think that's going to help. But I'll consider being more open, should I choose to. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm going to tinker a bit until I pass out on the work bench in a puddle of my own drool"

Pepper took a few seconds to process what he just said before catching sight of a familiar twinkle in his eyes and a smirk soon following it. She couldn't help but smile back. He was back.

"Now, here's what I want you to do. Go home, get your eight hours, then head here around noon. You've earned it working this late. Don't worry, Jarvis will be your sub for the morning. He'll make sure I don't burn the place down, right buddy?"

"I'll do my best, sir", came the almost grimacing response from the speakers above them

If Pepper wasn't smiling before (which she was), she sure was now.

"Will that be all Mr. Stark?"

"Yes, that will be all Ms. Potts. Goodnight, sleep tight and make sure the paparazzi don't bite"

With that, Tony started heading downstairs one last time, but not before getting in a final word.

"Seriously, watch out for reporters hiding in bushes with cameras. A woman such as yourself leaving my place at such an hour? Not good for your reputation"

And with that, the billionaire genius left the room leaving behind his dumbfounded personal assistant. Grabbing her bag, she started heading out the door, but not before a smile started spreading on her face, for two reasons. One, Pepper was sure that her boss, THE Tony Stark, local womanizer, just gave her a genuine compliment about her appearance without it ending with him trying to get her into bed. And two, she could tell he was improving.

Yeah, he was back alright.

 **Author's Note**

Hope you enjoyed! I just wanted to make a fanfic about Tony having to deal not only with some sort of trauma from Afghanistan, but also having to deal with the arc being embedded in his chest. It was pretty experimental, so there is no for sure way he even knows it might power his heart for, as I quote from Yinsen, "50 life times".

Please review!


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